Ordinarily Extraordinary

Just have to share these sites.

Leo On the Loose - the blog of Erin Vale. She shares great free printables.

How About Orange is another great one with lots of good eye candy, some printables and other inspiring stuff.

See you soon!

Einstein Quotes

It's been a rollercoaster of a week on the mommy front. And on the daughter front as well.

Kiddo is having to be disciplined and all you mommies know being the disciplinarian is never, never fun.

My dad flew to the Middle East yesterday. We probably won't hear from him for a couple of weeks or more. I fell asleep on the couch watching TV since I was having trouble getting to sleep (someone please stop me from eating chocolate so late and taking a nap from 3 - 5 p.m.) and woke up in the middle of the night to CNN saying "a plane has crashed in Iran." Just what you want to hear when your 59 year old dad is in the air somewhere over there.  Of course it wasn't the plane he was on.

So all that to say I have a whole lot to share very soon.  Things I'm so excited to share and of course my photos of the day. One of the things I'm most excited about is my review of A Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns, President of World Vision US.

But for today I thought I'd leave you with some of my favorite quotes from Albert Einstein. 

He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

 

 

Good music....

inspires me. Especially instrumental music. Especially piano and strings music. It moves me.  It motivates me. It makes my soul sing. It always has, even since I was a little girl.

If I'm having a hard time motivating myself I put on music and before I know it I'm accomplishing more.

I discovered this video on Matthew Paul Turner's blog. Thanks so much for sharing Matthew. I don't know how I've never discovered him before now. I will probably be listening to this all day as I work around the house and scrapbook.

Jon Schmidt will now be moving in beside Jim Brickman in this piano music lover's heart. (Sorry Jim, you have to share my love now.) I'm going to need to add another itunes gift card to my itunes account I believe.  If Jon and Jim ever got together....well, it might be too much for this 35 year old heart. I'm just sayin'.  And I just realized they both twitter! Could this day get much better?

It's going to be one amazing day. I can already tell. So be sure and click the play button and listen. You won't regret it. I promise.

Chalk Art

Last night was our Upward Basketball program's awards night. This year Jason Anthony returned as as guest speaker for the night. He was our speaker in 2007 for our awards night and this year his talent was just as amazing. He uses his testimony along with his chalk drawing put to music and a multi-media presentation. The kids are always so amazed and it is quite an experience to watch and observe as he draws these pieces in about 15 - 20 minutes.

The first photos are of Jason drawing the art he did for us last night with the completed piece and  the last photo is of the one he did for us in 2007 (which happens to be my favorite).

A Sunday Stroll through Camp.

We live near a beautiful lake. Near the south end of the lake there is a wonderful camp that hosts camps for children with cancer as well as many other camps. It's a very special place. There's a chappel and a lighthouse that always takes my breath away as I drive over the bridge near the camp.

The teenage daughter of a friend of mine asked me to help her take some photos for her application to the yearbook staff.  I wanted to go down to the camp and told her she was welcome to come along. I brought my old digital SLR and gave her a crash course in photography. She brought along her ballet pointe shoes. She did a great job and got some great photos that day. These I'm posting are all mine, but I'm planning on posting a couple of her shots soon.

The clouds were incredible that day. I'm having a hard time deciding which one I should use for my POTD, but I really love the last one.

Your decorating style.

Brandi posted a link over on her blog today for Sproost.  Such a fun quiz to find your decorating style. I have to say mine pretty much seems on target. (Well, except for my den. I'd love to redo it, but it will have to wait.) I'm a mix of Nantucket Style, Classic & Cottage Chic.

Want a chance to win a spot to the Scrap, Etc Event & help a good cause?

If you've never attended the Scrap, Etc Event, it's an amazing weekend full of great projects and fun.  Click here for more info on how you could win a spot to the event and help in the fight against breast cancer.

Grateful Morning

I've had some difficulty sleeping the past few weeks. It's not unusual for me to have a hard time falling asleep, but usually I don't have any trouble staying asleep once I do. The past few weeks though I've been waking up an hour or two before my alarm is set to go off. I'm not exactly sure what that's all about. Some mornings I've just laid there frustrated while others I've pulled myself out of the warmth of my down comforter. Today I managed to pull myself up. I read my devotion and wrote in my journal. If there's one thing God has been teaching me over the past few months is to be grateful. When I remind myself to be grateful I find that my attitude is so much better throughout my day.

After dropping DS off at school I went to our church and walked 2 miles around the indoor track. When I walk by myself I listen to my IPOD.  I always end up playing This Moment by Stephen Curtis Chapman.  Every Moment by Joy Williams is also another one that inspires me. And Unwritten by Hillary Weeks is usually the one I cool down to. And it always reminds me to be grateful.

Have you ever read something and though "now why do I not remember that all the time?" This post from Simple Mom really made sense to me this morning. Getting the worst tasks done first really does make your day better. I've done this before, but I always seem to forget.

Yesterday I finally finished making my day planner. I'll be taking a photo of it and sharing it later today (hopefully). I'm feeling very inspired to do some more papercrafting. I also have an idea for a bookmark I'd like to make. My mother bought me an embroidery machine for Christmas and I'm itching to get it out and play some more.

Yesterday I walked 2 miles after I dropped DS off at school. I know getting back into a regular exercise routine will help with my sleep and will help me stop feeling like I need to eat all the time. (I don't, but I certainly could.) So I decided to take advantage of the time while DS was in basketball practice and walk around the track while he practiced.  The desk was out of the little counters you get and click for each lap (several people walking), but I walked for at least 25 minutes. I'm hoping to get 2 walks a day in at least 2 or 3 times a week in hopes that it will help boost my metabolism a bit. I'm planning to walk again after church this evening.

And for Day 12 of my 365 photo project. DS at basketball practice. Since I planned to walk around the track while he practiced I hoped I could get a shot. It's a bit blurry, but that's okay. I'm not trying for perfect photos with this 365 project. Just capturing something about that day. Hoping to start working on my template in photoshop for my 365 pages soon. For some reason he didn't want to change out of his jeams into sweats or shorts for practice. He was probably just being lazy.

Well, I'm off to try and do some crafty things. :)

This was moving.

Found this over on Sweet Simplicity. Very worth the watch.

I thought I would be back to my normal blogging routine and that things were balancing out a bit and I'm getting there. I've had 15 mini photo sessions and 6 regular sessions since mid-September. In the past week 15 of those decided to place orders and many of them have ordered Christmas cards also. I am so very, very grateful! But it also means that my time isn't allowing for much of my blogging. DH is taking a few vacation days and was off yesterday. When DS and I arrived home from school yesterday afternoon DH had the house cleaned up and was blowing and raking leaves. It was so nice to walk in and spell the clean house.  So hopefully I'll be back in my normal blogging routine very soon. And if I don't make it back before Thanksgiving I hope you all have a wonderful Turkey Day!

Deserving Design and Color Splash

I loveVern Yipp's show Deserving Design. One: he's an incredible interior designer (I don't think I've ever seen anything he's done that I don't like -- and I've been watching him since his Trading Spaces days). Two: what a great premise for a show. Choosing people who give back to their communities and giving something to them. He seems to sincerely enjoy doing it also. Seriously inspiring.

And on another HGTV note  if David Bromstad doesn't beat Constance Ramos on the Summer Showdown I'll be quite unhappy.  Can David Bromstand come teach me to paint and redo part of my house while he's at it? He could redo my den and Vern could gut my kitchen and redo it. Probably a good thing that crazy dream will never come true. I'm not sure I could breath and I know I wouldn't come down off that high for a while.  It's a good thing he and Vern didn't go head to head in the Summer Showdown. I would have been so torn.

I'll have more scrapbooking to share tomorrow. Almost finished with one of the layouts for my Scrap, Etc design team work.